Police officers have been urged to seek assistance from the Employee Health Wellness (EHW) programmes to confront psychological and emotional challenges they face at home and at work. This comes after a police officer from Mpumalanga Mxolisi Hlophe shot and killed his partner and mother-in-law in Carolina on Sunday. Hlophe appeared at the Carolina Magistrates Court yesterday and his matter was postponed for formal bail application.

There have been many similar cases such as a police officer in Limpopo who allegedly shot two people, including his girlfriend, before turning the gun on himself last year. The 27-year-old constable attached to the Roedtan police station allegedly went to a flat where he found a woman believed to be his girlfriend with another man. "He then confronted them and shot them dead before turning the gun on himself. All three persons were certified dead on the scene. The policeman's service pistol was found on the scene. It is not clear at this stage what prompted the incident, but domestic-related challenges cannot be ruled out," Limpopo police said then. Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe: "We want to appeal to police officers in Mpumalanga, the country at large, including all security agencies, that please, when they come across any problems, let them immediately seek professional advice so that their problem can be resolved amicably, other than to resort to killing their spouses and so on."

Great concern has been expressed over policemen shooting their partners in moments of conflict. In a statement, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the police are continuously exposed to traumatic and stressful events and those who are not emotionally and psychologically equipped to handle stressful situations suffer from serious mental illnesses and this often leads to unfortunate outcomes such as suicide and crimes of passion. "On a daily basis, employees of the SAPS experience work-related stress that can range from responding to extremely traumatic incidents such as vehicle crashes, murders and other violent and serious crimes. These incidents can affect employees' mental and physical health, often leading to post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, passion crimes and suicide," said Mathe adding that SAPS aims to intensify its efforts to reach out to both officers and their immediate family members, by offering more programmes targeting mental health issues such as depression and bipolar, events that lead to or trigger multiple stressors in an individual, suicide prevention, debriefing services and counselling. "We know that they are trained to see themselves as problem solvers, not people with problems but they are also human."